'Murderball' triumphs as documentary, sports flick

Posted: Wednesday, November 09, 2005

The sport is quad rugby, also known as murderball. The players are quadriplegic men in tanked-up wheelchairs speeding down a court with a ball in their laps. The movie about their ferociously competitive spirit is a complete delight.

"Murderball" is a great documentary and sports flick packed with action, drama, humor, sorrow, conflict and the jubilation of athletes swept up in their raucous, even reckless, drive to excel. These men are so flamboyant, hot-blooded, petulant, even egomaniacal that they would be right at home in a National Football League locker room.

These are athletes, and not necessarily nice guys. They are single-minded fiends, people who if not for accident or ailment would be weekend warriors in marathons, cycling, basketball or whatever they set their minds to.

The film centers on the U.S. team, which has dominated international quad rugby for more than a decade. The filmmakers deftly structure the narrative like a three-act melodrama, each segment climaxing with a bitter showdown between the proud Americans and their upstart Canadian rivals.

"Murderball" is not about lost potential. It's about carrying on as always.